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| Clothes washing and drying |
| Only run your washing machine when there's a full load and use the energy-saving setting. You can save 45kg of carbon dioxide per year. |
| Drying a load of clothes in a dryer generates more than 3 kilograms of greenhouse gases. Put them on the line or over a clothes rack! |
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| Cooking |
| Thaw food in the fresh food compartment of the fridge before cooking. |
| Eat less meat - livestock contributes 18% of global emissions, more than the world's transport system (13.5%). |
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| Electricity, TVs and Computers |
| Switch to green power. |
| An LCD panel monitor generates around half as much greenhouse gas as a conventional monitor and lowering its brightness lower can cut emissions to a quarter. |
| Screensavers don't save energy: switch the monitor off or use power management to control it. |
| Join the increasing number of people who are installing solar on their roofs to generate electricity from the sun. You can obtain financial help from the Australian Government to purchase a solar power system for your roof. Visit http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements |
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| Garden |
| Divert garden and food wastes from landfill to composting (either at home or through a Council scheme). |
| Avoid over-watering gardens and wasting water: treating and pumping water uses energy and generates up to 0.6 kilograms of greenhouse gas per kilolitre for treatment and, in hilly areas, up to two kilograms of greenhouse gas per kilolitre of water for pumping. |
| Plant trees to absorb greenhouse gases. But be careful: if your prunings and leaves go to landfill instead of composting, they will decay without oxygen, generating more greenhouse gas than was stored in the plant material as it grew. |
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| Home Heating and Cooling |
| Turn your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer. |
| On mornings of hot days, close up the house and shade all windows to block out the summer heat. When it cools down outside, open up the house to breezes. |
| Clean filters of air-conditioners and heaters as recommended by the manufacturer: a clogged filter reduces air flow and efficiency. |
| Dress appropriately for the weather: put on a jumper before turning on a heater, and take off excess clothes before using an air-conditioner. |
| Ensure refrigerator door seals are clean and the door closes properly—if ice builds up rapidly the door is not sealing. The seals may also need fixing or replacing. |
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| Lighting |
| Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl). |
| Select light fittings with reflectors that direct light where you want it and do not absorb too much light—coloured glass can halve light output, creating a need for higher wattage lamps. |
| Turn off unnecessary lights, including fluorescent lamps. Leaving fluorescent lamps on doesn’t save energy or cut greenhouse gas emissions—switch them off! |
| Use daylight instead of artificial lights—but don't overdo it—large windows and skylights add to summer heat and winter cold. |
| Paint often-used rooms with light colours. Dark colours absorb light, increasing the amount of lighting needed. |
| For outdoor lights that must stay on for long periods, use energy-efficient compact fluorescent or LED lamps and choose the lowest wattage lamp that gives enough light. It’s also worth considering solar-powered garden lights. |
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| Office and Paper work |
| Buy recycled paper products. It takes 70 to 90 percent less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide. |
| Working from home for some or all of the time can cut transport and parking costs—and save time. |
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| Standby Power |
| Turn off electronic devices you're not using |
| Switch appliances off at the power point (or use a power board with switches) to avoid this waste. You will lose the digital clock on that appliance, but do you really need every one of them? |
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| Transport |
| Start a carpool with your co-workers or classmates. |
| Plan trips so you combine doing several things on each trip: save time and fuel. |
| Short car trips with a cold engine use more fuel and cause more wear-and-tear. |
| Diesel can cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20% relative to petrol. |
| A variety of renewable fuel blends and fuels with greenhouse benefits are becoming available. |
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| Water Heating |
| Switch off your hot water system when you're going away for a few days. |
| Install a 3 star rated water-efficient showerhead and save more than half a tonne of greenhouse gas each year if you have an electric hot water service. They will also save money in hot water bills and pay for themselves very quickly. |
| Take shorter showers. You'll save up to half a kilogram of greenhouse gas for every minute. |
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